Corfu Metropolitan: St. Spyridon’s Blessing Transcends Geopolitical Disputes

CORFU, GREECE — Metr. Nektarios of Corfu, Paxos, and the Diapontian Islands has defended the ongoing pilgrimage of the right hand of St. Spyridon to Russia, stressing that the transfer was approved in writing by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece and was undertaken solely to allow Russian Orthodox Christians to venerate the relic.

In a statement issued after returning to Greece from the first stage of the pilgrimage, Metr. Nektarios addressed criticism and reports surrounding the visit. He said the Russian Church first invited the Metropolis of Corfu in January to bring the relic to Kazakhstan, and that the Holy Synod approved the original trip in May. After Patr. Kirill of Moscow requested that the pilgrimage be expanded to include Moscow and other Russian regions, the Metropolitan said a new request was submitted and approved by the Synod on July 1.

The hierarch emphasized that the relic has previously traveled to numerous countries, including the United States, Cyprus, Ukraine, Serbia, Romania, Poland, Belarus, and Georgia, always with the blessing and written permission of the Church of Greece. He said the purpose of such pilgrimages is to bring the blessing of St. Spyridon to Orthodox faithful unable to travel to Corfu.

Describing the response in Russia as exceeding expectations, Metr. Nektarios said thousands of people waited for hours in an orderly manner to venerate the saint’s right hand. “We exclaimed and we exclaim: ‘The Lord God lives’! We rejoiced! We were moved!” he wrote, adding that the faithful should not be deprived of the saint’s blessing for reasons unrelated to religious faith.

Metr. Nektarios also addressed criticism of his participation in a Divine Liturgy celebrated by Patr. Kirill. He stressed that the Church of Greece has never severed communion with the Russian Church, saying that neither the Ecumenical Patriarchate nor the Patriarchate of Alexandria has done so either.

“We are not competent to resolve disputes, nor to consider them as sufficient reasons for the people not to venerate Saint Spyridon,” he wrote. The Metropolitan said that, despite disagreements within the Orthodox world, the pilgrimage had reminded him that Orthodox Christians share a common faith in the Triune God and life in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

Concluding his statement, Metr. Nektarios thanked the Holy Synod for its canonical permission and blessing. He said the centuries-old spiritual ties between Greeks and Russians, rooted in their shared Orthodox faith, “cannot be erased for geopolitical reasons, which will not last forever,” while insisting that political circumstances should not be allowed to call faith itself into question.

Previously, the UOJ reported that St. Spyridon’s relics were processed through Corfu on the anniversary of a miracle.